Squad Car Footage Released Of Former Gophers QB
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - New video out Wednesday night shows a former Gopher quarterback in the back of a squad car during his arrest last May.
Philip Nelson initially told officers in Mankato he wasn't involved in the fight that left Isaac Kolstad critically hurt.
Footage shows a conversation Nelson had with a police officer:
Nelson: I'm just confused as to why I'm the one getting arrested right now, because I'm the one who walked away.
Police officer: Well, because several people said they saw you kick him in the head.
Me though?
Yes.
They actually said "Philip"?
They actually said your name.
That's the thing--they know me. I'm trying to walk away.
Later that night police told Nelson that surveillance video showed him kicking Kolstad while Kolstad lay on the ground.
Nelson told them he didn't remember the kick.
"Would it get me out of here quicker if I just said I remembered it?" he asks a police officer in the video. "Because, I mean, I really don't."
Nelson and another man, Trevor Shelley, are charged with felonies.
Shelley is accused of punching Kolstad and knocking him to the ground.
Late last week, a medical expert told the court that the punch and fall to the ground caused most of Kolstad's injuries.
Nelson's lawyer wants the charges against his client thrown out.
Kolstad has spent the last eight months slowly recovering from brain injuries.
In a CaringBridge update Wednesday, Kolstad's wife said he's working on things like balance and speech.